Swine Flu Blues = Go to Disney World

As you may have heard, recently Mexico has been experiencing an outbreak of a little something called Swine Flu. Heard of it? 

Anyway, for the past two weeks all schools in Mexico have been closed as preventative measures to help curb the spreading of germs. I haven't been following the news or anything, but until just a few days ago there weren't even any cases reported in the whole state of Quintana Roo (where Cancun is located). We are feeling pretty safe, but tourism has slowed WAY down, so what's a family with no school and no work to do? 

Well if you're this family, you go to Disney World of course! It's only like Ella's 8th time and she's just 7. Just saying. 

We took off last Thursday and the kids didn't even know we were going anywhere. We said we were meeting our maid at the airport and then when we got on the plane and said we were going "on an adventure" Ella started crying cause Patrick had told her earlier we could go out to dinner and she didn't want to miss out on that!

I didn't take very many pictures cause we've done most of the same poses/pictures before at the park and it gets a little repetitive: same scenery, different year. I did take photos of some of the new stuff we did though.

Here we are on the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. We usually ride the monorail, but the line was shorter for the Ferry. Doesn't Jackson look like he is surpassing Ella in height? He's not, but they are pretty much the same height now.

Kaley's 1st ride pick was Goofy's Barnstormer kids roller-coaster. All the kids love this ride. She wanted to go without parents-just her and Ella.

Going up....

Going down..

And around the bend...

At the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Patrick was "that guy" that they kept putting on the jumbo screen and making fun of. All the kids got a good laugh at that, but the whole audience cracked up when Jackson made it onscreen and they asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said 'Alaska.' I think he may have thought they asked where he wanted to be when he grew up.

This trip we also tried out a Disney waterpark for the first time. We went to Blizzard Beach, which is made to look like a ski resort that melted. We had a really fun day. There were plenty of "rides" the kids could go on, but I think their favorite was the Teamboat Springs where we all rode the chair lift to get to and then plummeted down in a family raft.

Ella on a kiddie slide.

Racing in the Kiddie Park.

Jackson making his way across the icebergs. Gotta know how to do that if you're going to be Alaska when you grow up. :)

Jackson on a slide.

In the sleigh on the way out of the park.

As a special treat to Kaley we surprised her with a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Downtown Disney at the World of Disney store. She got the royal treatment and experienced long hair for the day. She also had her makeover in the store window, so she got to "princess wave" at all the passersby.

Her Before

Right before the big reveal

And after she saw herself

Plus and extra modeling pose outside the store 

Another first for us was going to Disney Quest. It is an interactive wonderland if you are into that kind of stuff. We're not, so it wasn't the highlight of the trip. Jackson did beat his dad pretty soundly at Guitar Hero though.

3D glasses for the Pirates of the Carribean "ride"

The only other park we went to besides the Magic Kingdom was Disney's Hollywood Studios. We wanted to try the newish Toy Story Mania 3D ride. We all decided it was a hit and we rode 3 times.

Another new attraction at Hollywood Studios was the American Idol Experience. It was really cool and actual guests at the park that day go through the audition process and some make it to the stage to perform in one of their 5 or 6 shows throughout the day.  There are judges, a voting mechanism and everything. Just like we were actually there except no Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert or Kris Allen to be found.

It amazes me that even though we go to Disney World more than I think we should that each time is a different experience. We did and saw a lot of things this trip we hadn't done before, so that was cool. I did worry that there would be more chance of Swine Flu at Disney what with people from all over the world there, but we were armed with our hand sanitizer, so no worries.

School starts back up on Monday and after Spring Break (April 3-19), then a week of school and then the Swine Flu shutdown (April 28 - May 10) I'm not sure we'll ever get back into a normal routine!!